Contents

Gabrielle Landry, Ruby's mother, died shortly after Ruby was born. As a result, Ruby was raised by her Grandmere Catherine. Ruby , at some point, encountered her Grandpere Jack during her childhood. Ruby showed artistic talent at a young age. Grandmere Catherine encouraged Ruby to paint nature rather than people. Ruby was raised to be hard working and to value her education. When she was young, Ruby used to play the 'Daddy game', in which she would think about her father and paint him. Until she was 15, Ruby never knew about her siblings or father.

Ruby lives a content life with her Grandmother. Ruby has a sweetheart in Paul Tate, but one night after her Grandmother witnesses them kissing, she tells Ruby that Paul is actually her maternal half-brother. Ruby is hurt, but she breaks up with Paul and tells him that they have the same mother. When Ruby's Grandmother falls ill, she tells Ruby the truth about her paternity. Ruby's real father is a wealthy Creole man from New Orleans named Pierre Dumas, and she also has an identical twin sister.

After her Grandmother's funeral, Ruby packs her belongings, wears her best dress and travels into New Orleans, and eventually finds her father's house. Outside of the house a young man drives up, calling her "Giselle." The boy reveals that he is Beau Andreas, and believes Ruby to be Giselle wearing a costume. Ruby nearly loses her courage, but she goes and introduces herself to her father and stepmother, Daphne. Ruby's father, Pierre is very kind and gentle, and welcomes Ruby instantly into the family. Ruby's stepmother, Daphne is distant, and worries about the effect this could have on their reputation. Giselle is stunned to see Ruby, and reacts angrily and storms off to her room. Pierre decides to tell everyone that Ruby was abducted shortly after her birth by a nanny, and they never told anyone to give Giselle a chance to be truly accepted. Giselle is told this and initially believes it. Giselle and Daphne make trouble for Ruby, while Pierre is thrilled to have a new daughter in his life, but Pierre is haunted by a former tragedy in his past.

Giselle pulls several pranks on Ruby and Ruby retaliates by casting a voodoo spell on her. Giselle is involved in a car accident, which leaves her paralyzed. Ruby believes it could be her fault due to the curse she put on her sister and accidentally tells Giselle. As a result, Gisele forces her be her servant, threatening to tell their parents what she did otherwise. Ruby begins a relationship with Beau, who had been very kind to her ever since meeting her.

Ruby and Giselle are sent to an exclusive Creole school in Baton Rouge. The school places heavy emphasis on the purity of Creole blood. Giselle is still paralyzed and Ruby is still forced to act as her servant. Ruby and Beau are still seeing each other. Ruby becomes friends with a girl named Abby, while Giselle makes several new friends. Giselle still makes trouble for Ruby, and is revealed to have regained her ability to walk later on, making Ruby take all the punishments for things she had done.

Ruby and Giselle are forced to return home, after learning some shocking news: Pierre has died. After the funeral, Ruby and Giselle return to school and later they return home for Christmas, where Daphne announces that she has a new boyfriend. Gisele reveals that she can walk and Daphne considers keeping both girls home for the rest of the year. On New Year's Eve, Ruby spends the evening with Beau and Giselle has a party, trashing the house. Daphne, furious, sends both girls back to school. Ruby discovers that she is pregnant, and the school informs Daphne. Daphne reveals her rage and envy that the Landry women are so fertile, but she could never have a child of her own. Daphne sends Ruby to an underground abortion clinic, but Ruby decides that she cannot go through with an abortion, and runs away from New Orleans, back to the Bayou. She returns to the shack where she grew up, reconnects with Paul Tate, and eventually gives birth to a baby girl that she names Pearl.

After the birth of Pearl, Ruby married her half-brother and childhood sweetheart Paul Tate, whom most of Houma assumed was Pearl's father due to an almost rape by Buster Trehaw. They moved into Cypress Woods, an estate on land that Paul had inherited from his grandfather and had built for her. Their marriage is for show only as they are half brother and sister. At first Ruby is happy because Paul takes care of her and Pearl, but then Giselle tells Ruby that Beau Andreas, the father of Ruby's daughter, had broken off the engagement to the French heiress. She also arrived with news that Ruby's only remaining family aside from her siblings, Uncle Jean, had died.

Later Giselle marries Beau to spite Ruby, and Beau and Ruby begin an affair due to their loveless marriages. Beau is at ease with the arrangement because he is certain Giselle takes other lovers, but Ruby feels terribly guilty due to Paul's care for her. Shortly after, Giselle contracts encephalitis from a mosquito bite and becomes ill without any chance of recovery. Beau and Ruby take advantage of this situation to switch the twins, Ruby pretending to be Gisselle and vice versa. Paul is not happy with the arrangement, but goes along with it to make Ruby happy. Ruby has a hard time acting like Giselle and Paul begins to convince himself that Giselle really is Ruby, which makes matters worse when Giselle eventually dies. She is buried as Ruby Landry and a delusional Paul believes Ruby is actually dead. Grief stricken, he goes off to the swamps drunk and drowns himself.

After Paul's death, a vengeful Gladys Tate tries to get custody of Pearl since she knows that it was Giselle who really died. Although Ruby comes forward with her identity, Gladys reveals Beau and Ruby's affair. She almost wins the case, until Ruby convinces Octavius Tate to reveal the truth behind Paul's parentage: Paul's mother was Gabrielle Landry, not Gladys. Gladys is horrified and Beau and Ruby get to keep Pearl. The book ends with Ruby marrying Beau and having twins, Pierre and Jean, named after her father and uncle.

Ruby is a very sweet, gentle and kind-hearted person--all traits she inherited from her grandmere, Catherine. She also seems to have an uncanny sense of the supernatural which Catherine also possessed. Ruby despises cruelty, deceit and lies and will always go out of her way to combat them wherever and whenever she can.

Ruby is extremely artistic as many of her paintings end up selling well when she is older. She is also a very good cook--another trait she inherited from Catherine. Since her grandmother was a traiteur, she believes in voodoo and is superstitious, this is especially seen when she casts a voodoo spell on Gisselle.

Beau met Ruby after she moved to New Orleans. At first, he thought Ruby was her twin, Giselle. In the second book, their relationship becomes more serious until Ruby becomes pregnant. Beau is sent to France while Ruby is sent to an abortion clinic, but she runs back to Houma without getting an abortion. Later, he breaks up with his french fiancee and marries Giselle, hoping to pretend that she is Ruby. As he still loves Ruby, they later start a secret affair. When Gisselle gets sick, he convinces Ruby and Paul to switch the twins so that he can be with Ruby and Pearl. In All that Glitters, they eventually marry and have two more children, Pierre and Jean.

Paul and Ruby were once high school sweethearts. They truly loved each other and even talked about marriage. Octavious and Gladys Tate opposed their relationship and it wasn't until Grandmere Catherine told Ruby that Paul was her half brother that Ruby broke up with him. Though Ruby told Paul the truth, Paul was unable to get over his love for Ruby. Ruby, meanwhile, started to love Paul like a brother. However, Paul's obsession with Ruby continued, even going so far as to raping Ruby once. Ruby is also selfish when she pretends to be Giselle. This causes Paul to believe Ruby died and go off drinking and dies. Ruby pays for this, however, when Gladys Tate nearly takes custody of Pearl.

Giselle is the spoiled twin sister to Ruby. They do not get along, with Giselle often making trouble for Ruby, treating her cruelly and blaming her for her car accident. She even seduces and marries Beau simply to spite Ruby.